Monday, February 20, 2006

Dangerous Ideas

"Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas."

The freedom to express ideas is dead on my project. Apparently, when one attempts to log onto my site from work, the message "access denied" appears on the screen. It appears as if my site has joined the ranks of those "banned" materials which espouse dangerous ideas. Undoubtedly, employers have the right to restrict internet access and deny the viewing of certain sites. But why take the trouble to block my site? Could it be that they consider my site "dangerous"? What could be so "dangerous" about my site? Could it be that I pointed out the fact that temps in general make only 1/8th of what they are billed out for? Could it be that they didn't like the negative media attention generated when I pointed out that the temps on my project were being treated more like animals, rather than as human beings? Perhaps. Just a hunch.

Please do not allow anyone to "chill" your freedom of speech rights. I am noticing a disturbing trend in which the number of daily hits continues to be as high as ever, but the number of comments posted has continued to fall. Please post and get your message out. In posting, just use common sense.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

how disturbing that they would block your site. rather than trying so hard to block the site, why don't they actually try and improve people's working conditions, or improve the relationship between the agencies and their employees? what they fail to realize is that by blocking the site, it draws more attention to it and just peaks people's curiosity and will want to know, "well, what are they hiding? what is it that they don't want us to see?"

people are not making this stuff up. we wish these conditions weren't true. how utterly hellish it is to work and be mistreated but not feel free to speak up for fear of losing a badly-needed assignment. "if you don't like it, then leave." easy to say when the job market is saturated and you can't get hired, you have mouths to feed, you have student loans the equivalentto the mortgage of a home (but no home to show for it), you don't know when your next paycheck is coming and you're working yourself into obliviion just in case the assignment suddenly ends....all this and on top of that you have to deal with the stress of abusive conditions and fear speaking up? give me a break. no wonder people are demoralized and fed up.

walk a while in these shoes and then come talk about it. i wish those that engaged in this abusive behavior would do it so that they could as compassionate and understanding as they claim to be.

Anonymous said...

Yes, please let's use common sense. Perhaps, the site is being blocked because you are supposed to be WORKING, not blogging about how much you hate the firm you work at or the agency you work for. I know, I know...such a strange concept.

Anonymous said...

well said.

Anonymous said...

well said. (forgot to put in -- to the first comment).

Anonymous said...

I think the point is, if there's generally internet access, why ban THIS site? It's not like there's so much posting and commenting on this blog that it will take any more time away from doc review then checking email or reading the NY Times website.

I've heard of some work internet connections banning anything interactive, which includes most blogs. But if they don't do that, and they do ban TTT's site, then they look like they are trying to run from the problems instead of solve them.

And besides, 4:59 and 4:59 pm, what are YOU doing on here?

Anonymous said...

I think it was a silly move. Most people weren't stupid enough to read the site at work. The fact that they banned it just makes it look like they are trying to hide something.

Anonymous said...

tom the temp for president!

Anonymous said...

wow, what a sad state you temp lawyers are in...sounds like factory work from "the old days"....I guess lawyering ain't what it used to be.....

Anonymous said...

An Open Letter to Anita

Dear Antia:

For those of us interested, can we come in to work on Saturday to make-up for the day we lost on Monday (due to the holiday)? Thank you and look forward to a response at your earliest convenience.

Best,

A Temp

AngryBell said...

Do you work in China? Or are you still in the U.S.? Or is there a difference when you are a temp?

Anonymous said...

Anita:

Thank you for adding Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Great article! Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for interesting article.

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